Gwaine's 'Old' Friend
by PotterheadWhovian
Summary: So Gwaine knew several things. He knew Merlin's secret. And knew Lancelot knew. And he HAD to see Merlin as an old man, if Lancelot's reaction was anything to go by. Companion piece/sequel to Lancelot's 'Old' Friend (sorry for the bad title, but I couldn't think of a better one).
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Thank you to those who read and enjoyed 'Lancelot's 'old' friend'. A few people asked me to make a sequel/companion piece, with Gwaine, so here is the start of one. Since I have several ideas for this, I decided that this would be a multi-chapter fanfic (at least 3-4). I hope you enjoy it!**

**Prologue**

_It's funny_, Gwaine thought while relaxing in the sun, _people automatically assume that if you happen to have a fondness for ale, you live your life drunk. And even _if_ that assumption holds _some_ truth (only a small amount though),_ Gwaine assured himself, _everyone assumes that once you start drinking, you don't remember anything. In some ways it's useful._

Gwaine pondered over the secrets he had learned about his fellow knights. _Not just the knights._ For Gwaine had discovered that 'the open book' of the group, who couldn't keep a secret to save his life (apparently), had the biggest secret of them all. Merlin had magic.

In all honesty, Gwaine was surprised that the other knights didn't know. He himself had discovered this little secret on his first encounter with the man. No matter how drunk he may have been, Gwaine knew that plates and benches could not fly by themselves, and he had noticed who had made them fly. He had observed Merlin when they were back in Camelot, and decided that if anyone could use magic for the right reasons, it was Merlin, and so, he would keep his friend's secret.

That was another reason why the secret was kept. Merlin was Gwaine's first friend (and at the time, only), and Gwaine wasn't over fond of nobility, despite being noble himself (a secret which Merlin had kept his word, and kept safe for him).

Thinking about it, not turning in Merlin was not a difficult decision. Gwaine honesty found magic something incredible, rather than deadly. It could be used as a weapon, and it could be beautiful. The person was what could be the problem, and Merlin was safe. That much, Gwaine knew for certain.

The fact that Merlin's secret had stayed as that did suprise Gwaine. He did not doubt his own, or Merlin's ability to keep his mouth shut over this _particular_ matter, but he had spotted Merlin using his magic an uncountable number of times now (mostly on the Princess), and no one else seemed to have seen it.

Arthur really should have – the whole 'courage, strength and magic' thing did not take a genius to work out, but Gwaine never thought the Princess was that bright anyway.

What Gwaine had noticed, after being knighted and living in Camelot, was that he was not alone in keeping Merlin's secret. Gaius knew, but Gwaine had suspected that from the off. All those secretive conversations. Really, they should be more careful.

There was, however, one other person who Merlin seemed to have all those secretive conversations with. Lancelot appeared to know Merlin's secret, and Merlin clearly knew he knew. He did not know how Lancelot knew (and he was fairly certain that Merlin had not just _told_ him), but he knew that he was trustworthy, and that his friend's secret was safe with this man.

So, for now, Gwaine decided, he would not let Merlin know he knew. He would continue to be (drunk or not) oblivious. After all, that was what people _assumed_ he was, wasn't it?

**A.N. Sorry this was a bit short, but I hope you liked this. I have the first proper chapter written (and it is longer), I just need to type it up, so hopefully that will be up in the next few days. The end of this was a bit sadder than I intended, but it seemed to fit... Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. Thank you for the AMAZING response to the previous chapter. It really made me happy ****. This is kind of the 'companion' chapter to 'Lancelot's 'old' friend', after this, it will be the sequel. Because this is the companion chapter, there will be similarities to the other fanfic, as this chapter is set at the same time. Enjoy!**

Gwaine had a headache – and this time, it had nothing to do with the amount of ale he had drunk the night before. No, the reason for his headache was the incessant clanging of the warning bell, announcing the presence of an intruder.

Arthur had called together those who he trusted the most to inform them of the nature of their intruder. From what Gwaine could make out, the reason for his pain was an old sorcerer. To be honest, he hadn't really been paying that much attention to Arthur. Sure, he did his best to antagonise the Princess while he was so serious, but it wasn't like he was being very clear in his explanation anyway.

While Arthur was droning on, Gwaine had noticed two things. One – Gaius did not appear to find this threat too concerning, and two – Merlin was nowhere to be found (although, according to Gaius, he was in the tavern. And Arthur seemed to think that he spent all his time in there. Not that Gwaine had ever seen him there for pleasure). In Gwaine's mind, what he noticed lead to one conclusion. One way, or another, Merlin was responsible for this blasted headache.

He casually strolled down a corridor. Gwaine had decided that is Gaius thought this magical threat (that was probably Merlin) was of no concern, then he wouldn't tire himself out over it. Gwaine was, in fact, day dreaming about his plans for the evening – down at the tavern.

His peaceful reverie was interrupted by loud voices. One of the voices sounded like a very grumpy old man – the sorcerer! Gwaine walked forwards, wanting to assess the threat for himself, but the sound of a snort of laughter and a second voice stopped him.

"I'm sorry!" Lancelot? Why was he apologising to the sorcerer. Then again, if Gwaine was right in his suspicions... "Really?" Lancelot continued. "I should have known! Why else wouldn't you have been around earlier when the bells went off?" Well, that confirmed it. There was no real threat from this 'old' sorcerer.

Gwaine lent against the wall, deciding that for the moment he would keep up the pretence that he didn't know Merlin's secret. He continued to listen to the conversation in the next corridor, and couldn't help notice that Lancelot's voice seemed restrained.

Part of Gwaine was having a lot of trouble concealing himself – from what he could hear, and guess, quiet, dignified Lancelot was having a hard time containing his laughter. Gwaine had had a hard time smothering his when he heard about 'Dragoon, the Great'! He had to agree with Lancelot. Really Merlin?

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Gwaine stood up properly with his sword ready, prepared to help Lancelot defend Merlin should the need arise. He relaxed again when he recognised Gaius' voice.

"You know, it never fails to amaze me how stupid you can be!" Gwaine's snort of laughter was hidden by Merlin's (or rather, Dragoon's) very articulate "Ah!" at being discovered. As Gwaine listened, the others seemed to come up with a plan, and Gwaine recognised Merlin's voice – his _normal_ voice – once again.

"The prat seems to think I spend more time drunk in the tavern than Gwaine, and that's saying something!" Seems like a perfect entrance.

"I resent that fact." He grumbled, strolling round the corner. Gwaine was still grinning from listening to the previous conversation, and his wide grin seemed to help the others relax. Gwaine fell into step with the other two.

"It's your own fault you got that reputation." Gwaine heard Merlin mutter. True. A very fair point. He shook his hair out of his eyes.

"What can I say, someone in there must like me, as I haven't been chucked out." A fact that still surprised him.

"Yet." And Merlin, clearly.

"It's still an achievement." Gwaine was very proud of it, even if he didn't understand it. He remembered the task at hand, and decided to play along. "Any sign of that old sorcerer then?" He hoped he had managed to keep the laughter out of his eyes better than Lancelot was.

"I saw him vanish before my eyes." That you did. A clever way of twisting the truth there.

"Ah well, we'd better inform the Princess then. He's not going to be happy about this." Gwaine told his companions as he marched away.

Back in the council chambers, Gwaine decided that Arthur was not really helping his headache go away. Though he did have to stop himself laughing at Merlin's 'reassurances'. Arthur did not seem to appreciate the 'You'll catch him one day,' from Merlin, as he hadn't quite managed to keep sarcasm out of his voice. Arthur, having noticed it started to dole out his punishment.

Here, Gwaine decided to block out Arthur's voice, which he succeeded in doing until the doors slammed. Merlin, Gwaine realised (as he was no longer in the room). He must have said something while leaving, as Lancelot seemed to be struggling to keep his composure (again).

Arthur collapsed into a chair, and started to assure his knights that they would catch the evil sorcerer. He couldn't help himself.

"Princess, why do you go to all this trouble for one sorcerer? He's gone now."

"He's a sorcerer, Gwaine. It's my duty to my people to hunt down the threat. But there's something about him..." _Huh._ Gwaine thought. _This man confuses Arthur. Interesting._ Lancelot seemed to think so too.

"Are you saying you know him, sire?" So polite.

"He seems familiar for some reason." Arthur still looked confused an unsure. _Bless..._ Gwaine thought, trying to hide his amusement.

"I know the feeling." Gwaine looked curiously at the other knight. He was really struggling. As Arthur dismissed them, Gwaine decided he regretted staying hidden.

Gwaine was confused to see Lancelot heading towards to stables. Then, he remembered Arthur's go-to punishment.

"Poor Merlin." He said out loud, before deciding that since he was free for the rest of the day, he might as well go to the tavern for a drink. And then he heard an explosion of laughter from the stable Lancelot had just disappeared in. Curious, he decided he would change his plan for the time being.

Upon entering the stable, Gwaine was met by a sight he'd always hoped to see, almost as much as he wanted to see Merlin drunk. And now, as an old man. Lancelot was rolling around on the mucky stable floor, all dignity forgotten.

"What am I missing here?" Gwaine made his presence known. Merlin hurriedly picked up his pitch fork, and got back to work. Lancelot got up carefully, trying to contain his laughter, and started brushing himself down.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Gwaine raised his eyebrows. He decided it would be fun to mess around with them, as he had clearly missed out on something hilarious.

"The sorcerer can't have been _that_ funny." Their eyes widened, and Lancelot hurriedly tried to cover up.

"No, of course not." _He stumbled_. Gwaine narrowed his eyes, but was secretly enjoying himself.

"I suppose you think we have nothing to worry about with this sorcerer on the loose." Ah, the face of a perfect knight of Camelot.

"I never said that." Lancelot said quickly, while Merlin's face was split between worried and scared.

OK, so Gwaine definitely did _not_ enjoy seeing a scared Merlin as much as a flustered Lancelot.

"Relax, mate, I didn't grow up in Camelot. I don't share Princess's views on magic." Both men relaxed visibly. Good thing he didn't actually want to turn them in, or that could look suspicious. "I'm just saying, your lack of worry over this almost makes me think you know this sorcerer." Ah, the worry was back.

"Me? Know a sorcerer? Preposterous!" Gwaine decided that even if he _hadn't_ known Lancelot was lying, he wouldn't have bought it. That man needed to work on his lying skills. Merlin rolled his eyes.

"And everyone says _I_ don't know how to lie." Lancelot elbowed him, but Gwaine thought he had a point. Lancelot was making _Merlin_ look like a good liar. Gwaine was struck by a sudden thought. _Back to messing around._

"Merlin, I came down here to ask you something." Not really true, but anyway. Merlin seemed wary.

"What do you want to ask?"

"How do we stop Princess searching for this 'dangerous sorcerer'? We all know he's never going to catch him." Gwaine enjoyed the look of shock on both Lancelot's and Merlin's face. "Well, unless he _wants_ to be caught, that is." Gwaine's companions remained frozen. "Maybe he's not actually old at all..." Gwaine winked at Merlin, and left the stables. Now he could go to the tavern. He just caught Merlin's voice.

"I think he knows." Gwaine snorted. Well really, he wasn't an idiot. And even if he did have that fondness for his ale, he was not blind to the goings on around him. Both natural and magical.

**A.N. Not really new, but I hope you enjoyed this from Gwaine's point of view. The next chapter will have some banter, I assume. I thought that I should probably do this as a chapter before the next. I have ideas for two more, and then we'll see what happens from there. The gap between this and the next chapter might be a bit longer than before, as I still have to write and type up the next one. Until then!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N. Sorry for the delay before this chapter - in my defence, I had to get ready and pack for my first year at University, then I was settling in. In short, I've been quite busy, whether doing work, or visiting my sister, or sleeping, and even after having written some of this, I hadn't had time to type it up until now. I hope that it was worth the wait! Enjoy!**

Gwaine was sitting on his bed polishing his boots (after polish in the boots for all of Camelot's army, he had become rather good at it). There was a tentative knock on the door.

"Come in." Gwaine glanced up briefly from his polishing, and snorted when he saw who it was. "You would have given Princess a right shock then." He dumped his boots and brush on the floor, and patted the bed next to him. "I don't think he thinks you know how to knock." Merlin chuckled weakly, and tentatively sat down next to Gwaine.

"Listen, about earlier…" Merlin started slowly, "What exactly did you mean?" For once (one of the few times anyway) Gwaine decided to answer seriously.

"I think you know what I was referring to." Merlin put his head in his hands, and groaned.

"Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone." Merlin looked slightly disbelieving.

"But Arthur's your King, and this is against the law - his laws!" he exclaimed.

"You had my loyalty before Arthur, and I believe you to be more deserving of my loyalty." Merlin looked like he was going to protest. "My friendship to you comes before my loyalty to our King."

"You aren't angry, or annoyed at all?" Gwaine shrugged his shoulders.

"To be honest, I think I've always known." Merlin looked alarmed. "I can't fault you for hiding something that could get you killed. Not that I've ever cared about magic." Gwaine added as an afterthought. A thought suddenly struck him, and he frowned at Merlin.

"Though there is something I don't understand about all this." Gwaine waved his hands around, mimicking magic.

"What is it?" Merlin asked cautiously.

"All the times you called the Princess an ass…" Gwaine looked like he was seriously pondering his question. "How come he's never turned into one?" Merlin stared at his friend for a moment, before he burst out laughing.

"Of all the things to ask about," He exclaimed through his laughs, "That's what you want to know the most?" Gwaine shrugged.

"It would be fitting." He said calmly. "And give us all a laugh!" Gwaine started laughing too, happy his question had had the desired affect, and Merlin was no longer cautious and worried.

"He did actually, once." That shocked Gwaine out of his burst of laughter.

"WHAT!?" Merlin nodded.

"A goblin escaped, well," Merlin tilted his head slightly to the side, and smiled sheepishly, "I accidentally released it, and it inhabited Gaius and gave Arthur the ears and voice of an ass!" Gwaine's mouth was gaping.

"I can't believe I missed that!" The image seemed to catch up with Gwaine again, and he started laughing harder than before.

"When I had to clear up the mess, I left the voice behind to affect him periodically over the next day or so! It was too good a chance to miss!" Gwaine stared at Merlin.

"What did Gaius say about that?" Merlin just shrugged.

"He laughed!"

"My friend," Gwaine said to Merlin, as he tried to get his laughter under control, "We are going to have so much fun with this!"

"You realise that this is top secret, right?" Merlin raised his eyebrows.

"Doesn't mean we can't have fun with it too!" Gwaine shrugged in response. "How powerful are you, anyway?"

"Quite powerful." Merlin said quickly, trying to avoid and get away from the topic of his powers.

"So who knows?" Gwaine asked, once they had both stopped laughing.

"Well, my mother," Merlin started.

"You don't say?"

"Gaius," Merlin continued with a glare, "Lancelot, as you know, Will knew - he was a friend of mine back home - and I suppose a couple of other people who I've come across over the years." He shrugged. "The druids generally know who I am, even if I don't want them to for the most part."

"The DRUIDS know you?" Gwaine was intrigued. He'd heard a few druid rumours and legends - not many, as they weren't common knowledge, given the state of things - but for the druids to know Merlin, that meant there was something more to this than Merlin was letting on.

Gwaine narrowed his eyes, and Merlin looked wary. In fact, he looked as though he'd just realised he's let something slip.

"So, Merlin…" Gwaine drawled, "What is it that the druids know you as?"

"Merlin!"

"To quick!" Gwaine smiled a satisfied smile. "If you had said that there was a druid camp that knew you, I would have left it at that, but you said _druids _know you." He paused for a moment, and watched Merlin shift uncomfortably. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Just how much do you know about the druid prophecies then?" Merlin sighed, reluctantly.

"Well, the most well known one, given recent events, has got to be the prophecy about Emrys and the Once and Future King…" Gwaine trailed off as Merlin sighed. "Wait a second," He exclaimed, "You don't mean to tell me that YOU'RE Emrys?" Gwaine's mouth fell open.

"You couldn't say that any louder, could you?" Merlin asked, through gritted teeth. "And, technically, I didn't say anything."

"But you are, aren't you?" Merlin nodded, reluctantly again. Gwaine whistled.

"Well, when you said you were powerful, you weren't joking!" He laughed. "I never realised that you were THIS powerful! Isn't Emrys meant to be the most powerful warlock EVER to live?"

"Just how much do you know about this prophecy?" Merlin asked, starting to get exasperated by all of Gwaine's questions.

"Enough to know things I wouldn't be able to find out from you, by the looks of things."

"Can we change the subject?"

"At least you know that Arthur should know the truth about you one day, which I'm sure you want."

"NOW!"

"Alright, alright, keep your hair on!" Gwaine looked about, trying to think of a new subject of conversation. He grinned.

"How's the Princess' punishment for you coming along?" Gwaine asked slyly. Merlin groaned, and raised his hands into the air.

"I haven't even started that yet! Someone needs to give Gaius more possible places for me to go!" Gwaine started laughing. "You know, looking after Arthur is a full-time occupation, and all I get for my pains is more chores because Gaius seems determined to make Arthur think that I spend more time in the tavern than you do!" Merlin glared at his laughing friend. "You're enjoying this far too much!"

"Sorry, mate, but it is rather funny." Gwaine held up his hands in defeat at Merlins unwavering glare. "Fine, but weren't you working on the stables when I saw you with Lancelot earlier?"

"Did it look like I was working hard?"

"Fair point, my friend." Gwaine beckoned for Merlin to lean in closer.

"What?"

"Can't you're _old friend _just appear and sort it out for you?" Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Gwaine, an 'evil sorcerer' who's just escaped imprisonment will come back just to clear up after the horses in the royal stables." He stepped back. "They're always so considerate to the Prince's personal manservant, sorcerers wouldn't want _him _to have any trouble now, would they?"

"Alright, I've got your point. Can't you do something about it then?"

"Can't rely on it too much for my work." Merlin shrugged. "It increases the chances of me actually slipping up."

"Ahh, right." Gwaine lay down, getting comfortable on his bed, and closed his eyes. A commonly heard shout echoed through the castle.

"MERLIN!"

"Well, I'd best let you get on with it then." He squinted up at Merlin, and laughed at his glare. "Don't want to keep the Princess waiting now, do we?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh away." Merlin turned, and started to walk out of the door.

"One more thing…" Merlin turned to his lazing friend. "When will I get to meet this _old friend_ of yours?"

"Not any time soon, if I can help it." Merlin muttered, slamming the door behind him.

Gwaine chuckled as he heard Merlin stomp towards his master's voice. Really, It was funny to think about. The most powerful warlock to ever walk the Earth and manservant. Arthur had the most powerful person clearing out his stables and his chambers. What Gwaine wouldn't give to see Arthur's face if he ever found THAT out!

**A.N. Yeah, yeah, I know - Gwaine hasn't met Dragoon next - that's in the next chapter, which I am looking forwards to writing, and I hope that you'll like it when it's up! I can't promise when it'll be - I'll have it up when I've had time to write it, and that's all I can say! Let me know if they're at all out of character in this… The middle of the chapter is where I'm worried about their characters. The ending's not brilliant, but I wanted to get this up anyway - I felt bad leaving you for so long! Anway, until next time! Thanks for reading :D**


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